


Scale Shine Day

by Creatortan



Category: Rick and Morty
Genre: Heart-to-Heart, Lizard AU, Love Confessions, M/M, Massage, Non-Monogamy, Read author’s note for additional tags/explanations, Valentine's Day Fluff, Worldbuilding, brief misunderstanding
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-14
Updated: 2021-02-14
Packaged: 2021-03-15 18:41:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,046
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29440620
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Creatortan/pseuds/Creatortan
Summary: It was typical for young hatchlings to celebrate Scale Shine Day—but Morty wasn’t native to Rick’s home planet...he’s still got a lot to learn! Thankfully, Rick can teach him, right?
Relationships: Rick Sanchez/Morty Smith
Comments: 1
Kudos: 24





	Scale Shine Day

**Author's Note:**

> NOTE there is a brief talk abt non monogamy that doesn’t necessarily reflect real relationships but instead a combination of character analysis + the nature/instincts of an alien species. Rick absolutely could, if he wanted to, choose to be completely monogamous—he’s just not happy doing it, and it speaks to a larger problem in his relationship with Diane that he felt she was trying to change him too much or that he couldn’t be himself with her. Also miscommunication for their needs.

Rick knew that the assholes at the Morty Assignment Center were lazy and probably thought it was hilarious to pair up Ricks with “obvious” Mortys.

But that didn’t stop them from occasionally stumbling into good matches.

Rick...didn’t hate his new Morty. Sure, he was consistently irritated with the kid, but that was to be expected with Mortys across the board—hell, it was even in part of the paperwork Rick had to fill out when requesting a Morty. In the biggest, boldest letters. Several times.

But aside from being generally annoyed at Morty’s incompetence or shitty idealism—Rick also had to admit, the kid was pretty fun when they got into the groove of things.

And it helped that Morty was reptilian, too. Morty adapted well to Rick’s preferred climates, could subsist off of the same diet as Rick’s species, and could sympathize with minor reptilian annoyances like itchy scales or stuck shed. Plus, it helped having a companion who didn’t stick out like a flashing neon beacon on Rick’s home planet.

Morty’s genetics were also as much of a perk as they were an annoyance. As a genetic fusion, Morty wasn’t a perfect copy of Rick’s species—instead he had a sloppy mix of reptilian and human traits, and conducting research and experiments on his pseudo-grandson was probably the highlight of getting the little shit in the first place.

Though...ah...maybe it wasn’t fair to still call Morty “new.” Rick was pretty sure they’d been partnered for at least a year, probably. It was hard to tell, what with Morty asking stupid questions all the time. It wasn’t really the kid’s fault—Rick spent a shitton of time in space, so Morty couldn’t really absorb all of the basic information about Rick’s home planet. It just made Morty seem like he’d just gotten there—the kid didn’t even know how long a year was. It was almost sad.

Rick would’ve felt more pity for the kid, if his questions didn’t veer from annoying into teeth-grindingly, scale-shatteringly  _ fucking enraging_ _._

They were trying to meet up with one of Rick’s dealers—not for drugs, for once, but for  _ Placitus Quietem_ _,_ a five inch bluish-whiteish flower that’s cultivated in secret by an amphibian-like species with insanely high prices. The flower’s main use was its sedative properties, which could be extracted in a concentrated form or left as they were for the smaller doses in their pollen.

“So, uh, Rick—“ Morty said shyly, his tail curled protectively around his thigh as he followed Rick down through the muggy cave system. “W-w-why do you need these flowers? Are they, are they like for some kind of experiment?”

Rick made to brush off Morty’s question when the ceiling lowered and forced him to hunch over even further. Rick hissed through his teeth, trying to even his breathing and ignore his twitching eye.

“N- _ urrp _ -no, Morty,” Rick muttered, “I use them to line my nest. They’re—they work fucking amazing for my back. Last a, a long-ass time too.” And it was a hell of a lot easier than trying to do self-surgery to realign his spine.

“O-oh!” If Rick looked back, he would’ve seen the vestigial blush high on Morty’s cheekbones, in the soft area under his eyes where the scales were thin and the skin was still human-soft.

They stumbled further into the cave system until they reached the meeting place—empty, though that wasn’t particularly uncommon with this particular dealer. Rick leaned against a wall, waiting. Morty rocked on his feet at Rick’s side.

“So, um...” Morty scooted closer, as if Rick wouldn’t notice. Of course Rick noticed—Morty was even worse with the cold than Rick was. “Since it’s...you know, the um, t-the year, I was wondering if your species had—uh—like a...” While Morty stammered, Rick casually wrapped an arm around his little partner’s shoulder, tugging him closer to conserve heat. “—Valentine’s Day?” 

Rick’s eye twitched again. His claws curled into the protective layers of Morty’s thermal shirt.

“W-why the fuck do you— _uurrgh_ —do you want to know? Y-you got, you got some broad y-you got your eye on? Is, is that it, M _ uurgh _ orty?”

“Um,” Morty looked away, and this time, Rick saw his blushing face loud and clear. “S-something like that.”

“Well, yeah, sure,” Rick spat, bitterly. “We don’t call it Valentine’s Day, but we do have something like it. It’s, it’s a stupid f- _ uugh _ -cking name for a, a stupid fucking holiday: Scale Shine Day. It’s, it’s exactly two months before the Festival of Life.”

Morty cringed when Rick said the last part—as he always did. Rick grinned deviously.

“M-more like the Festival of _ Fuck_. T-the  _ breeding ball_ _._ The  _ grope gala.” _

_“Rick!”_ Morty squeaked out, squirming as Rick pulled him closer.

As Rick kept coming up with more and more ridiculous names—the ground beneath them began to rumble, and Rick’s dealer emerged, suspiciously empty-handed....

-

Rick was fuming. He gripped Morty’s arm so hard dragging him out that the kid was probably bruised under his scales.

Rick threw Morty into the ship, and slammed the door so hard the whole thing shuddered and groaned. Rick just swore at it.

“Can’t even, can’t even fucking  _ kill  _ the guy.” Rick’s hands were itching for his gun, but he stopped when he remembered how connected the whole  _ Placitus _ market was. Even roughing his dealer up could’ve caused trouble. Fuck. Rick hated having to play fair.

“W-what’s so, what’s so special about these, these flowers that, that you can’t grow them yourself?” Morty asked, with his....his infuriating little Morty voice.

“I haven’t figured out how to grow them myself. There’s, there’s something about their ecology that I just, I just can’t fucking crack.”

“Oh,” Morty looked down at his lap. “I’m, um, I mean, i-i-if you want me to I could, I could try to help?” Morty held up his hands. “Like a massage! Maybe....s-since you get them for your back.”

Rick’s tail swished. His tight grip on the steering wheel loosened a bit as he glanced over at Morty. With a quick button press, he flipped the ship into auto pilot and started climbing out of his seat.

“Alright, kid—“ Rick crawled into the backseat. “Let’s, let’s see what you’ve got.” Rick laid on his stomach, chin resting on his arms. “Well? You offered.”

Morty stammered again, fumbling with his seatbelt before joining Rick in the backseat. Morty leaned over Rick, cautiously putting his palms on Rick’s shoulder.

“I’m not gonna break, Morty.”

“Oh! Y-yeah.” Morty put more weight into the balls of his thumbs, pressing them harder against a knot in Rick’s shoulder-blade. Rick groaned—causing Morty to hesitate.

“Keep going.”

Morty did. Bolstered by Rick’s sounds, Morty kept going, pressing his body weight onto Rick’s back, through Rick’s clothes.

“Hold on, kid.” Rick sat up and tossed his lab coat from his shoulders. He stretched out his arms before laying back down. “This time, try to get the other side, too.”

“B-but...Rick, I, I can’t reach.”

“Geez, you’ve been groping my spine for the past ten minutes. We’ve been closer than this before, M-Morty—just get, get up here and sit on me.”

Morty’s skinny thighs straddled Rick’s waist, finally letting him put his full weight down on Rick’s back. Rick groaned, long and deep and rumbling in his chest, as Morty’s palms slid up to Rick’s nape.

“Um, Rick...a-about Val—um, about Scale Shine Day...what is it, I mean, how, how do you celebrate it?”

Rick rolled his eyes, trying to focus more on the deep pleasure-pain of another tight knot getting worked out.

“It’s usually for sentimental saps or inexperienced hatchlings—you, surprise, surprise—are, are in the latter category. So, so it wouldn’t be, be a total shock if you did it.”

“Really?” Morty sounded excited. Fuck. It was probably that fucking Jesssica girl. That damned little snake—literally, Jesssica wasn’t even a lizard reptilian, but a serpentine one.

“For you, it would be like...calling dibs on someone, so you don’t, don’t have to embarrass yourself getting, getting rejected during the Festival. It’s good for hatchlings going into their, their first time at the Festival.” 

Rick continued, yawning.

“You, you gotta, you pick your date, right? Then you, you prove yourself—mating is all about that genetic lottery, right? Most, most of my species isn’t, isn’t  _ monogamous_, Morty. We fuck and that’s it. It’s why my Beth only had Summer and not, not a  _ you_.

“So you, you show off. Prove you can, that your genes are worth passing on—that you’ve got something to offer, or, or that you can provide resources, or defend against rivals and shit. Y-you’re young, Morty, you don’t have to do everything. Just picking something is usually enough. You fucking hatchlings are all horny bastards anyways.”

At this point, Morty wasn’t really massaging Rick as much as he was gently rubbing over his back. It felt nice, though, so Rick wasn’t gonna complain. The heating in the backseat was really nice too.

“So...you said your species isn’t monogamous...what...what does that mean? Do you, um...have you ever been in like...a relationship?”

Rick froze.

“Get off.”

“Huh? Rick! I-I’m sorry!” Morty scooted back, straddling Rick’s thighs, careful to avoid Rick’s tail as it splayed over his lap. “I was just...I mean...isn’t..isn’t it kinda lonely?”

“Yeah, sure,” Rick scoffed, “You know what else is lonely, M-Morty? Being, being trapped in a fucking fishbowl, fighting against your own goddamned nature year after fucking year.” Rick’s nails tore through the seat cushions. “I—I loved her, Morty, I did. I gave up  _everything_ for her.  But I couldn’t fucking  do it . It drove me crazy, M-Morty, fucking  _crazy_.”

Morty’s hands kneaded at the most tense part of Rick’s lower back, like a distraction, or an apology. Rick’s anger fizzled, just a bit, under his grandson’s careful hands.

“I’m not a monogamous reptile, kid. I just felt so...restless. She, she figured it out—of course she did—but when she caught me she was...she was so  _hurt_.  But, fuck—Morty—I was hurt too. I...I still loved her—why wasn’t that enough?”

Rick felt Morty’s forehead between his shoulder-blades.

“Y-you know what’s real funny?” Rick said dryly, “I didn’t even know what cheating was before she accused me of it.”

“T-t-that wasn’t...that wasn’t very fair of her,” Morty said quietly, mumbling into Rick’s scales.

The rest of the ride home was quiet, and somehow, the two of them ended up tangled together in the backseat. 

—

Rick had forced the event to the back of his mind—though massages did become a regular event, especially since Rick was still looking for a new dealer, still.

He was hunched over the innards of a device he scrounged up from somewhere, when Morty came into the lab.

“Rick!” Morty sounded, for once, somewhat confident in himself. “I—I want to, I mean—I-I invoke my right as a Morty to an adventure of, of my choosing!”

Rick looked up to see Morty holding up his filled Adventure Card, his hand trembling only a little. The kid had dressed up for an adventure and everything, wrapped head to toe in the layers of thermal and armor protection. Rick’s own design—a leather-like material that could withstand most basic forms of weapon and projectile.

He looked kinda cute, in a way, wearing cute little goggles and a backpack. Rick smirked.

“Sure, kid, where’s it gonna be.”

“I—I mean, c-can I...can I be in charge? Like...choose where to go and everything? I—I have it all planned out, I promise!”

Rick peered intently at Morty. The kid started fidgeting even harder. 

“You know what, kid? Sure.” Rick gently pinched Morty’s head-crest. “But the second shit goes sour, we’re portalling back home.” 

“O-of course!” Morty brightened up like the fucking sun—his eyes wide and his tail swishing excitedly. “I—I won’t let you down, Rick!” 

-

No matter how much Morty begged, Rick refused to let him drive the ship. Instead, through some careful backseat driving, Morty pointed and read aloud the directions. It would’ve been more frustrating if Rick wasn’t so curious. 

They landed on a tiny little moon in a tiny little solar system—some backwater place with nothing to offer.

“I, I would’ve thought you’d wanted to, to go somewhere fun.” Rick raised his brow.

“D-don’t worry, Rick!” Morty smiled, “I’ve got this!” He hopped out of the ship, and once Rick was out, not only locked the doors, but turned on the defense mechanisms.

“There something you’re not telling me about this planet, Morty?”

“It’s—it shouldn’t be dangerous! Just, just to be safe!”

Morty excitedly led the way, taking Rick’s hand as they walked. Looking around, the moon wasn’t half bad. Quiet, secluded, nice scenery, and apparently the flora and fauna were mostly non-dangerous—though Rick still kept a hand on his gun.

They made it to a massive pink tree—with long dropping branches like a willow. As Rick followed the path of one of its roots, he realized this tree was probably the center of the entire moon—which was why there weren’t really other plants around aside from some grasses and wildflowers.

Morty approached the tree and knocked on it rhythmically with his claws. Unsurprisingly, the trunk opened up, and Morty confidently walked into what appeared to be a lobby.

Rick’s hand was tight around his portal gun, ready to bolt at a moment’s notice, but Morty only held his hand firmly.

A slime based organism rolled out from behinda curtain in the only other doorway. Rick was vaguely familiar with the species—they were decently formidable, though the politics among their kind was notoriously annoying to deal with.

The creature blubbered around nervously, holding a small container in his hands.

“You...you got the stuff?” The creature asked. He must’ve been new to this—probably a grunt to someone more powerful.

Morty flipped his backpack into his hands and took out a megaseed. He tossed it over—where it landed in the creature’s gelatinous torso with a squish.

“Oh! You’re right on the money! I feel smarter already!” The creature’s body slowly ate at the seed, tiny bubbles floating off of its surface through the slime. The creature put the container in Morty’s hands.

“Now that you’re here—why not relax? I’ll just go....um...” Then the creature bolted out of the door. Rick jerked to follow, but Morty held him back.

Rick glared at Morty, about to give into his gut and get them out of there—

When there was a scream, and then a wet explosion sound. Morty was grinning, pulling Rick by the arm again. This time, as they traced their steps back to the ship, Rick realized why Morty set the ship’s defenses on. Rick whistled, impressed.

“Shit, would you—would you look at that.” Rick scanned the goopy remains splattered around them. “That’s, that’s quite the, quite the fucking trick, Morty.”

“Y-yeah well, uh, he, he was working for the mafia anyways! He was going to, to steal the ship to try and get the megaseed to another mafia on his home planet. No one will miss him, though! He was meant to be on a suicide mission anyways.”

Rick’s shoe bumped into something.

“I can see why.”

He picked up the megaseed and wiped off its sticky mess onto the grass.

“H-here—c’mon!” Morty walked them all the way back to the tree. He picked up the little container he traded the megaseed for and pushed it into Rick’s hands. “Here!” 

Rick looked down, barely noticing Morty running off. He popped off the container top and blinked down at the package. Was—was that—

“R-Rick?” Rick looked up, turned around, to a massive bouquet of  _ Placitus Quietem.  _ Morty’s head peeled out from behind them. “H-Happy Valen—um, Happy Scale Shine Day?”

Rick just stared. Morty took that as an invitation to keep talking.

“I-I-I have some, some contacts in The, The Citadel! Other Mortys! And, well...one of them t-taught me how to cultivate the, the flowers so I just thought....now you can, you can make your own!”

Morty took a step closer, the bouquet dropping to his side, his eyes big and earnest.

“We—we’ve been through, through so much, Rick. I’ve never...I’ve never felt like this for anyone, and I don’t think I even  _ can _ feel this for anyone else.” Morty took the plant from Rick’s hand and set it aside, set the bouquet down on a chair. “I won’t be like her, Rick. I don’t care if you have sex with other people—I just, I just—y-you coming home to me is good enough.”

Rick still didn’t respond. Morty’s expression fell. He stepped even closer, reaching out to touch Rick’s arm.

“I—I swear, I swear it’s good enough, Rick! I’ve...I’ve been through, through a lot already, through some Ricks and, and Morty School—and Morty battling! So—so I know. I can, I can tell this is real, Rick. I just—I only want, want you—and I know what you’re like...I don’t, I don’t want to change you, and—“

“So you mean to tell me that this whole time,” Rick interrupted, “This whole damn time....you were into  _ me_, and not that Jesssica chick?”

“Well, duh! I barely know this world’s Jessica at all!” Morty laughed, “Rick, we’ve been together for three years! Of course I like you more than her!”

“It’s been three years?” 

Morty just laughed. He dropped the flowers to the ground and leapt up to wrap his arms around Rick’s shoulders—pulling him down for a surprise kiss.

Rick, unsurprised, kissed him back, his tail curling possessively around Morty’s.

The whole ride back was filled with lazy kisses in the backseat. Rick didn’t say a lot, but that was alright—Morty didn’t need him to say anything at all.

Two months later, at the Festival of Life, Morty proudly marched onto the dance floor with Rick on his arm—first dibs on the most desirable lizard in the universe. 


End file.
